The Janice Mason Art Museum’s new exhibit, “Oh, the Things We Collect,” opens today and remain open until Sept. 9.

The exhibit has been put together from personal collections of a few mostly anonymous collectors from in and around Trigg County, said museum administrator Paula Lisowsky. Some examples included a collection of old Cadiz advertising from Wanda DeName and a collection of fossilized snails from museum board member Bryan Blaylock. There are 28 collections in the exhibit, Lisowsky said.

One collection that Lisowsky said should prove to be fascinating is a collection of authentic signed letters from 28 United States presidents, including Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Some were written before the men became presidents and some are hard to read, so the collector typed them as well, she said.

Other collections include vintage hand puppets, glassware, pottery and masks. Lisowsky said that a collection of old election paraphernalia would be on loan from the couthouse. It includes things such as ballot boxes, locks, seals and dog tax tags.

“That’ll be real interesting to locals, I think,” Lisowsky said.

A collection of unusual shoes includes ceramic and glass high heels and cowboy boots made out of “strange materials,” she said. There will also be gourds and baskets from around the world and old-fashioned metal sand pails.

The second Juried Exhibition, which was last held in 2005, is also coming soon. The competition is open to all artists working in any medium in Kentucky, western and middle Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, Lisowsky said. She said that she hoped there would be plenty of entries because of the success of the 2005 show, which had 77 entries.